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RR: Gisbourne South Northern Combine (Scratch) 2/9/2006
RR: Gisbourne South Northern Combine Scratch 2/9/2006 Stories from the saddle: Recalled as best I could. A beautiful spring day greeted us out on course, which was somewhere about 50kms from anywhere. The course was about 8.5kms a lap and just under 100m of vertical ascent. The Bikely map: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...rthern-Combine I didn't take note of numbers in each grade, A grade was 4-5? B grade maybe 10? Using the theory that I wanted to race in a grade where I would be competitive, I singed up for B. *fingers in ears* shuddup shuddup.. My last scratch road race was five months ago! And with these numbers, they raced A and B together so I guess the only technicality was the prize money (and maybe tactics). Underway - easy rolling for the first few kms. Some B graders took it upon themselves to set the pace, fair enough. Sit on, sit in, sit somewhere up the front. The hill on the back road was the only real hurt involved in the course. 5.7% for first 1km the total being 1.6km @ 4.7%. A nasty head wind up the climb didn't help things, but as long as you weren't on the front it was just a hill. I threw in an attack at the base (yeah, only 8 laps from home) for a warm up. The climbers/contenders moved to the front. There were two B graders off the front, which were pulled back in without any drama. The final 2kms of each lap was downhill and flat out with a tail wind. 53-11 all the way, well, if I had an 11 on today. I was concerned that if this came down to an attack/sprint on the final descent I might be off the back. Hmmm yes.. no sprint would be a good finish on this course. Lap 2 - 1/2 way up the climb came _the_ split. I was 2nd or 3rd wheel in the unlucky bunch when this took place. With the break containing most of the A graders it was time to move. Argh, shovel out, dig DEEP, I bridged across. We had 50m or so at the top and the gas was still on into the head wind. Counting the numbers in the blurred reality brought on by max HR, A grade x4, B grade x2. Tristen from StKilda and myself were the only B graders in the group. At the start of lap 3 I introduced myself to Tristen and discussed the gap we had on the rest of B grade. I'd found a perfect ally, he was quick, could climb, and never shied away from working on the front. Tristen was employed to pull us up the first 1/2 of the climb on each lap, it just ended up happening this way when we could both see the other B grade bunch in the distance before the base of the climb. I put in an effort or two, with Aaron and the other A graders pulling through at or around the top. Off shoots an A grader! Aaron and Stuart Morgan responded leaving Tristen and I wondering if we should follow. We lost about 30m before swapping turns and getting back on at the bottom-of-the-hill-lull. Phew.. 'sit on for a bit and rest' I was thinking, yeah right! Mr Attack gave it another go on the slight rise after the start - he was gone, for good. Aaron, Stuart, Trisen and myself got things sorted for some great rolling turns into the wind. The following laps were carbon copies which all flew by. I had either miscounted the A graders or we'd dropped one, I wasn't sure. One lap to go. With the amount of work Tristen was doing, I told him if it came down to the line, it was his. As Aaron put it after the race, he was an Energizer Bunny. I was expecting Aaron and Stuart to start the A grade infighting before the last climb, which would have played into our favor, we could simply sit up and roll around for the first two B grade placings. This wasn't to be. On the final climb we pass C grade - who were all sleeping. I gave TimC a few words of encouragement "HEY TIM, ATTACK" C grade then woke up and were matching us for speed. If C grade held with us over the top of the climb, the finish may have been a jumble of attacks and leadouts from a mix of three grades. A few 100m from the top I was clear of the C grade bunch, on the front, and with the power down. Trisen, Aaron and Stuart were also clear of C but I was clear of them by about 20-30m. Hello! Quick calculations made - 500m head wind then 800m side wind then the 2km run into home at 60km/h+ Showtime. All or nothing. Head down, ITT mode, ignore the Polar. The few dropped D graders up the road were targets - catch them, check my gap, repeat. On the final wind up on the run into home I couldn't see them - no sprint finish - perfect. Not much fanfare on the line - which was explained later. I even zipped up my jersey for the sponsors (if I had one!) The rest of B grade only had to complete 7 laps! So the punishment for playing with the A graders was another lap! Ess tells me there was a mix up by the guy counting laps. Thankfully this didn't change the result. Not sure of the gap I had on the only rider ahead - but he was in another league - off the front for 6 or so laps for the win, wow. Well done to Aaron for rolling Stuart Moragn by 1/2 a wheel on the sprint too! TimC's first road race ended with a 4th, another fine effort. There was an incident involving bogans in a car on the last lap, it had no impact on the race, so their effort isn't worth mentioning. Vitals: 1:53:31 68.4kms 36.2km/h average 779m climbed HR Stats - you don't want to know! B Grade 1st: $50 I'm too tired to proof read this (again), apologies if it doesn't flow too well, I'm spent. Goodnight all! GPLama -- gplama |
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#2
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RR: Gisbourne South Northern Combine (Scratch) 2/9/2006
On 2006-09-02, gplama (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea: RR: Gisbourne South Northern Combine Scratch 2/9/2006 Stories from the saddle: Recalled as best I could. A beautiful spring day greeted us out on course, which was somewhere about 50kms from anywhere. The course was about 8.5kms a lap and just under 100m of vertical ascent. The Bikely map: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...rthern-Combine I didn't take note of numbers in each grade, A grade was 4-5? B grade maybe 10? Using the theory that I wanted to race in a grade where I would be competitive, I singed up for B. *fingers in ears* shuddup shuddup.. My last scratch road race was five months ago! And with these numbers, they raced A and B together so I guess the only technicality was the prize money (and maybe tactics). C grade -- maybe 20? Underway - easy rolling for the first few kms. Some B graders took it upon themselves to set the pace, fair enough. Sit on, sit in, sit somewhere up the front. The hill on the back road was the only real hurt involved in the course. 5.7% for first 1km the total being 1.6km @ 4.7%. A nasty head wind up the climb didn't help things, but as long See the juniors being tailed by the team car? That hill would have been hell to them! as you weren't on the front it was just a hill. I threw in an attack at the base (yeah, only 8 laps from home) for a warm up. The climbers/contenders moved to the front. There were two B graders off the front, which were pulled back in without any drama. The final 2kms of each lap was downhill and flat out with a tail wind. 53-11 all the way, well, if I had an 11 on today. I was concerned that if this came down to an attack/sprint on the final descent I might be off the back. Hmmm yes.. no sprint would be a good finish on this course. The flat just before the final descent was hot. Radiant heat from the road. Don't know why so hot there (maybe all the heat from the freeway next door?), but everytime I went over there, my face was burning. Glad I brought the two bidons -- even that was looking like it wasn't going to be enough, even without any having gone over my head. Lap 2 - 1/2 way up the climb came _the_ split. I was 2nd or 3rd wheel in the unlucky bunch when this took place. With the break containing most of the A graders it was time to move. Argh, shovel out, dig DEEP, I bridged across. We had 50m or so at the top and the gas was still on into the head wind. We had a lot more attacks than in the Kew crits. The hill, the first small descent, the second hill, the second major descent -- would bring attacks every single damn lap. The bunch wasn't really content with letting them get any gap whatsoever, and we only let a couple of riders out for any length of time (and they were all soon caught into the uphill headwind, naturally). I was hovering around 2nd-5th wheel most of the time. I think I was too tempted to dig deep too often -- helped by quite a few willing participants in the bunch who wanted to chase down just about everyone -- and I didn't want to be the one left behind saying "nope, we'll catch them". As such, we had a constant flow of attritions because most people could hold on... barely, but we'd lose a couple every attack. No attack succeeded in the second last lap. By then, everyone was appearing to start to fatigue -- at least I was finding it easier now to keep surviving. On the final climb we pass C grade - who were all sleeping. I gave Sleeping? My HR was somewhere around 170! But it was the rider behind who was the steam train, promise (he he, there were a few -- I think a few were even panting). TimC a few words of encouragement "HEY TIM, ATTACK" C grade then woke up and were matching us for speed. If C grade held with us over the I would have (or so I claim), but I was sort of boxed in from memory. And still not quite clear on whether we could bridge across to your group and ride on your wheels. But, as you say, we did pick up the pace. Prior to that, I think the bunch was still fairly large, and I didn't see behind us until the finish, but I think I saw only 6 or 7 cross the finish line in the bunch -- so we must have dropped the rest when we picked up the speed up there. top of the climb, the finish may have been a jumble of attacks and leadouts from a mix of three grades. A few 100m from the top I was clear of the C grade bunch, on the front, and with the power down. Trisen, Aaron and Stuart were also clear of C but I was clear of them by about 20-30m. Hello! Quick calculations made - 500m head wind then 800m side wind then the 2km run into home at 60km/h+ Showtime. All or nothing. Head down, ITT mode, ignore the Polar. The few dropped D graders up the road were targets - catch them, check my gap, repeat. On the final wind up on the run into home I couldn't see them - no sprint finish - perfect. The Richmond cyclery girl decided to attack up the final small climb, but lucked out. Down the hill (77.0km/h), I was second wheel, taking it fairly easily, trying not to upset a cramp that had been hinting at its existance. A couple overtook us, and I was stuck in 4th. I sort of remember being boxed in, and perhaps also boxing in someone else (er, sorry, I think I cut someone off too). I could have overtaken richmond girl, and was about to cross the line to do so, then remembered "um, I think you get disqualified in some races for doing so -- no idea here!). So I didn't. Stuck in 4th, and had to sit up across the line. Notice how there was absolutely no wind in the carpark when we finished? Vitals [A/B grade]: 1:53:31 C Grade: 1:56:23h; 68.4kms 61.07km 36.2km/h average 31.60km/h avg (waaah! And that was hurt! 36 is just crazy talk) 77.0km/h max 779m climbed HR Stats - you don't want to know! max 187, avg 157 It's been *weeks* since I've been able to get anywhere near 185, and longer since I've been in the 190s. Does this mean I am getting too old for this? B Grade 1st: $50 Again, no payment for 4th I'm too tired to proof read this (again), apologies if it doesn't flow too well, I'm spent. Goodnight all! Same. I started out the day feeling dehyrated (and completely flat -- should stay away from even 2 beers the night before a ride). I drank probably 5 litres. I still feel worse now. -- TimC pivot_root manpage: BUGS: Some of the more obscure uses of pivot_root may quickly lead to insanity. |
#3
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RR: Gisbourne South Northern Combine (Scratch) 2/9/2006
TimC Wrote: Vitals [A/B grade]: 1:53:31 C Grade: 1:56:23h; 68.4kms 61.07km 36.2km/h average 31.60km/h avg (waaah! And that was hurt! 36 is just crazy talk) 77.0km/h max 779m climbed HR Stats - you don't want to know! max 187, avg 157 It's been *weeks* since I've been able to get anywhere near 185, and longer since I've been in the 190s. Does this mean I am getting too old for this? [/color] Shhh.. you'll wake the HR argument gods. Rest, diet, wind direction, price of oil, you name it, all impact HR Today's HR stats: 193 max, 173 avg. -- gplama |
#4
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RR: Gisbourne South Northern Combine (Scratch) 2/9/2006
gplama Wrote: Shhh.. you'll wake the HR argument gods. Rest, diet, wind direction, price of oil, you name it, all impact HR Today's HR stats: 193 max, 173 avg. Great effort(s) and ride reports - sounds like it would be a challenge for me to stay with B grade... I'll try again when I can get a leave pass : R -- ritcho |
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